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Federal investigators recently made covert tape recordings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the most dramatic step yet in their corruption investigation of him and his administration, the Tribune has learned. As part of this undercover effort, one of the governor's closest confidants and former aides cooperated with investigators, and that assistance helped lead to recordings of the governor and others, sources said. The cooperation of John Wyma, 42, one of the state's most influential lobbyists, is the most stunning evidence yet that Blagojevich's once-tight inner circle appears to be collapsing under the pressure of myriad pay-to-play inquiries. Wyma, Blagojevich's chief...

Link only due to FR policy.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_584284.html

McCain, Obama, Lieberman, and Biden have voted for the bailout. No word yet on Graham.

President Bush will speak in a few minutes. Get to a TV and watch it, if you have the stomach for it.

WASHINGTON - House and Senate leaders yesterday anxiously pleaded with skeptical lawmakers to accept a bipartisan $700 billion financial bailout plan, saying the package was crucial to calm the markets and stave off what they warned could be the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Failure to approve the package, which bleary-eyed House and Senate negotiators agreed to early yesterday morning, would cause "an event which we don't want to conceive" of, said Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire and a lead negotiator of the package. The House is set to vote on the bill today, and the...

On Friday, September 19, rank and file Republican members of Congress were notified of a conference call that would include Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. I would never disclose confidences, but it is quite public now that we were told an economic disaster was about to take this country that could be worse than the crash of 1929. Now, that’s a real attention-getter. It sure got mine. My years as a judge force me to demand factual evidence to support expert opinions. The factual evidence was then and is now less than satisfactory. Yes, credit was...

The roots of today's mortgage-based financial crisis can be traced back to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which Jimmy Carter signed in 1977. Seeking to address complaints from anti-poverty activists and housing advocates about banks allegedly discriminating against minority borrowers and "redlining" inner-city neighborhoods, the CRA decreed that banks had "an affirmative obligation" to meet the credit needs of victims of discrimination in borrowing. To add a government stick to the process, the CRA decreed that federal banking regulators would consider how well banks were doing in meeting the goal of more multiculturalism in loaning when considering requests by banks...

Due to AP restriction click link

Lawmakers Reach Accord on Huge Financial Rescue Vote is Imminent on $700 Billion Bailout Plan Congressional leaders and the Bush administration this morning said they had struck an accord to insert the government deeply into the nation's financial markets, agreeing to spend up to $700 billion to relieve Wall Street of troubled assets backed by faltering home mortgages.

House Republican leaders proposed changes in lobbying laws yesterday that would include a crackdown on independent, big-money committees that heavily aided Democrats in the 2004 elections.[snip] Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), recently elected House majority leader, has argued that it is far more important to increase disclosure requirements for lobbyists and lawmakers than to limit their interaction. But in a surprising development yesterday, House GOP leaders decided to try to intervene in a fast-growing sector of campaign finance that has mostly benefited Democratic candidates.[snip] Instead, the groups would be governed by federal campaign finance laws that would restrict such giving...

...But for the Republicans this is unadulterated good news. It vindicates "Jorge" Bush's hunch that aggressively pursuing the Hispanic vote would pay off. His familiarity with Mexican-Americans in Texas formed in him an instinct.... The Hispanic entry into Republican ranks comes, for many, at an earlier phase in their American journey than for other immigrant groups. Just think of the Irish, Italians and Jews, who generations after arrival on these shores can still reflexively pull the Democratic lever. Their vestigial loyalty is the result of what has been the Democratic Party's strategy for over a century. The bargain back in...

This is a movie review, a reminder of one of the most reprehensible people in American history, and a well-deserved pranging of James Carville and Lanny Davis. Both of them appeared last week on every TV program in the known universe to decry the criticisms of John Kerry by 254 Swift Boat veterans because “they were not on the same boat.” This is a bald-faced, brass-plated lie in a number of ways. But before we count those up, a review of M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie, The Village, is in order Yes, this will connect up. And so will a...

Carmine De Sapio, Political Kingmaker and Last Tammany Hall Boss, Dies at 95 [Yes, He Was A Democrat] Carmine G. De Sapio, the last boss of Tammany Hall, as the once-notorious Manhattan Democratic Party organization was known, died late yesterday afternoon at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, said his daughter, Geraldine A. De Sapio. He was 95 and lived in Greenwich Village. At his apogee in the 1950's, Mr. De Sapio was credited with handpicking Robert F. Wagner Jr. as mayor of New York City and W. Averell Harriman as governor of New York State. Pundits in Washington asserted that...

California Governor's Race: Tammany Hall's Next Target – Simon's FaithPatrick MallonFriday, Aug. 16, 2002 This is the sixth article in a weekly series on the California governor's race. See previous articles:California Governor's Race: Defying the Lies as Bombs Fly (8/9) Stealth Agenda Trumps Academic Success in Schools (8/2)Simon Survives Attacks, Davis Cons for Cash (7/26)Paralyzed From Facing Reality (7/19)California: Wanted! An Ethical Governor. Apply Within (7/15) While newspapers and editorialists take faux potshots at the Davis team's cynical fund raising, Simon confronts far more challenging problems: lawsuits, and a problem raising money. Confounding the critics, though, Simon leads Davis...